Mission PossibleBy God’s grace and in answer to prayer, Ben was able to negotiate incredible logistical challenges and have the container of 40 000 Bibles and 50 000 Story of Jesus Christ story booklets successfully delivered to the Nuba Mountains. The purpose of our mission was to carefully distribute the Bibles to pastors, teachers, military personnel and school children. We were able to distribute 32 000 of these Bibles and 43 000 of the booklets throughout the Nuba mountains of Sudan. We praise God for His protection over the many thousands of kilometres of flying and driving in dangerous areas. Thank you to all who made it financially possible and for praying for us.

Gospel OpportunitiesWe split into three teams so that we could reach more schools. In total, on this mission, we reached over 130 schools. At every school where we distributed the Bibles, we also preached the Gospel to the whole school gathered outside the classrooms. The teachers, students and pastors who received Bibles were all very appreciative.

School children in the Nuba mountains very rarely have their own textbooks, workbooks or even stationary. We therefore believe that these Bibles and booklets will be treasured by the children.Even at schools where the teachers and students are Muslim, they did not seem to mind us preaching the Gospel and they were grateful for the Bibles! I often used the story of Abraham to springboard into the Gospel, as many Muslims and Christians are familiar with the story. At many schools, the children made a funny sound with their mouths at the end of my sermon – this apparently signifies that they understood and agree with the message preached.

We also had many opportunities to preach the Gospel in marketplaces, on the back of trucks whilst being transported to our various destinations and to military personnel. I also preached one Sunday sermon and gave one devotions message at a Bible School.

PersecutionWhilst the Nuba mountains have more Christians than other parts of Sudan, there are still many Muslims, although most of the inhabitants are ethnically black Africans. The Muslim government of Khartoum has been bombing churches and schools and poisoning wells in the Nuba mountains for the last 60 years. This war is both religious and ethnic. Thankfully there has been a ceasefire for the last year, but in every village we saw the remains of destroyed school and church buildings. It was heart-breaking to see the reality of war in the minds of the children. The only drawings we saw on the walls of classrooms were of Antonovs dropping bombs, or of soldiers on the back of trucks with their machine guns. After Muslims have forcibly Islamised an area, they bulldoze all the houses of those who refused to submit.

The Textbook of TextbooksUnderstandably, the Nubans hate the Arabs, and therefore want to reject Arabic as their national language. They therefore want English to be the language taught in their schools. In twenty years’ time, the Nubans want English to be the official language of their country. The schools were very welcoming of the English Bibles so that they could use them as a textbook. Some of the schools are already using English Christian textbooks that have been donated to them. We gave some guidelines to the teachers of how they could teach from the Bible and how the students can study them. What a privilege it was to distribute tens of thousands of copies of the Greatest Book in the world, the Textbook of textbooks! Please pray that many students would be saved as they read and study the Scriptures.

Muslim MythsI shared the Gospel with some people who believe that Jesus died and rose again, and that He is God, and yet they are still Muslim! A belief that is quite common among Muslims in the Nuba mountains, is that if you convert to Christianity, you will be poor for the rest of your life. This is tragic, yet if they do convert, at least one will know they are serious!

Ready to DieI have never met Christians who are as excited about going to meet the Lord in Heaven as many of the dedicated Christians in the Nuba mountains are. When one faces the reality of death on a daily basis as these persecuted Christians do, then it is no wonder that they want to be in Heaven where there will be no more suffering.

Unreached People Groups in the Nuba MountainsThere are many tribes in the Nuba mountains that have not yet been engaged with the Gospel. Meaning, no mission agencies or churches are specifically attempting to reach them with the Gospel. Together with local churches and other missions working in Nuba, we pray that this sowing of the Word of God will lead to future generations reaching these groups.

“So shall My Word be that goes out from My Mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”Isaiah 55:11

Pray for SecessionJust as South Sudan gained its independence from Khartoum in 2011, in answer to much prayer and pressure, please continue to pray that the Nuba Mountains could secede from Sudan, but more importantly that it would become a country founded on Biblical Principles.